[Leica] Leica Digilux 2 repair issue epilog

[kididdoc at cox.net (Steve Barbour)]

On Mar 30, 2007, at 4:58 PM, joeaksa@attglobal.net wrote:

> I posted a message on the LUG about three months ago on the LUG  
> about my
> Digilux 2 that I had been having problems with. Most of the  
> problems I felt were with
> the Leica NA service center, and dealing with a lack of  
> communication. The camera
> had been sent in for a replacement in the on/off switch and  
> returned in an unusuable
> condition.
>
> After posting to this list I received several emails. One of them  
> was from Steve
> Barbour, a list member who lives here in Phoenix. He was very  
> helpful and directed
> me to Sandy Ritz, who runs a camera store here in town and is an  
> old hand at
> Leica's.

I was very happy to help you out Joe...and I'm glad all is OK.

Sandy is an old friend and reliable camera man... who apparantly was  
ready to help.
I bought my own M8 from him...great service.
(and btw. he just got a couple of M8's, not spoken for)

nice ending to the story, thanks to the LUG...

Steve

> I called Sandy and he then directed me to Leslie Sales, who is the  
> Leica field rep for
> this part of the country. Lucky for me she as well lives in  
> Phoenix. Leslie was out of
> town, but I ended up talking with her Brother. Leslie and her  
> Brother work together
> and were very professional and always got back to me by phone or  
> email.
>
> I was told to send the camera back to Leica NA immediately and they  
> even provided
> me with free shipping. The big change was that he told me to send  
> everything in,
> batteries, charger and so on.
>
> Lucky for me Leslie was going to be in New Jersey at the Leica  
> facility the following
> week when my camera arrived. She discussed my situation with  
> various people and
> immediately I started getting progress reports, something that had  
> never happened
> in the past.
>
>> From what I hear the camera was essencially taken totally apart  
>> and checked every
> where. It had been getting hot on the back side of the case, and  
> had a electrical
> popping noise at the same time in the same area. After sending it  
> to Leica twice for
> the same thing after the on/off switch was replaced, and its then  
> being returning in
> the same condition I was getting a bit perturbed at the lack of  
> service.
>
> Evidently the Leica technicians use a bench type power supply when  
> working on
> camera's, which is understandable. They want a clean, strong and  
> accurate source
> of power for the camera and a battery runs down, needs recharging  
> and so on. It
> seems that part of the problem was that once the camera is out in  
> the field we use
> the battery, and this was masking part of the problem on my camera.  
> The problem
> evidently was not occuring with the power supply but would with the  
> battery.
>
> Next issue was that the display on the back was showing funny lines  
> on it after being
> returned from one of the service trips. They ended up finding that  
> the sensor unit was
> bad and they replaced it. Evidently this is a common issue with the  
> D2 recently and
> they are fixing many camera's that are out of warranty to take care  
> of the problem.
> As well they ended up replacing both of my batteries!
>
> I have had the camera back for about two month's now and its been  
> to various
> places around the world. I travel for a living and the camera  
> worked flawlessly every
> time and every place I used it. The photos are excellent and new  
> display on the back
> looks very nice.
>
> Thanks to everyone who assisted in this, especially Leslie Sales  
> and her team, as
> well as Robert Fisk and the Leica group in New Jersey. Hope to  
> someday meet
> Steve and Sandy and buy them a lunch or dinner for their help, and  
> am scheduled to
> meet with Leslie for a M8 program in a month or so.
>
> Thanks again to the LUG!
>
> Joe Abrahamson
> Phoenix Arizona
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information